EPTThank you everyone
Choosing a degree
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ljd1131
Australia83 Posts
Thank you everyone | ||
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Marcinko
South Africa1014 Posts
What I can tell you is that Chemical Engineers are high paying jobs. Companies like Sasol is always hiring chem engineers and you can go anywhere in the world with that career. I doubt that you want to leave Australia, but it is always good to know you can get a job anywhere. I'm not a chem engineer myself but I work with them on a daily basis and it looks interesting. Good luck in whatever you choose. | ||
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Lurgee
Australia252 Posts
One thing to keep in mind is in order to work in Chem or Physics in any meaningful way you'll probably need a postgrad qualification, so if you don't see yourself sticking around in uni for an honours year at least, if not a research degree on top of that then you probably won't find work in those fields, however the degrees still will teach you good critical thinking/data analysis type skills. No idea what careers look like in chem eng. I have a few friends finishing off chem eng degrees at monash uni, and they don't seem particularly thrilled about career prospects. From what I gather, it's not a bad job market, just is less good than most people assume when stepping into an engineering degree. | ||
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ljd1131
Australia83 Posts
On March 22 2014 19:25 Lurgee wrote: There are lots of double degree options at various Australian unis; consider starting out in chemeng/science and figuring out what you want to do over a year or so of uni where you'll get a better feel for each discipline. If you decide at the end of your first year/semester that one suits you better than the other, you can probably still graduate with one degree in the standard amount of time. Go look at various course outlines at local unis and email them questions to figure out how to pick a degree that will suit you. One thing to keep in mind is in order to work in Chem or Physics in any meaningful way you'll probably need a postgrad qualification, so if you don't see yourself sticking around in uni for an honours year at least, if not a research degree on top of that then you probably won't find work in those fields, however the degrees still will teach you good critical thinking/data analysis type skills. No idea what careers look like in chem eng. I have a few friends finishing off chem eng degrees at monash uni, and they don't seem particularly thrilled about career prospects. From what I gather, it's not a bad job market, just is less good than most people assume when stepping into an engineering degree. What engineering disciplines would you recommend? I've been trying to find out what type is higher paid/more interesting but have had no luck as of yet. I would also like a degree that I could get a job with rather easily. Also what degrees get paid the most money in Australia outside of medical and law degrees? Ps If I could do anything I would really like to be a theoretical physicist but I think that may be a bit too hard and not very rewarding financially. | ||
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Ideal26
United States185 Posts
My advice is just go down one path you think you might like now, and by the end of your first year you might want to switch. At most schools, engineering classes are very basic the first year so if you switch degrees early you won't be behind on classes. Unless you want to go on to graduate school or become a high school science teacher, don't do fundamental science (phys, chem, bio). If you reallyyy want that degree, double major. Edit to comment on your comment: I know so many theoretical physicists, and they tell everyone not to do theoretical physics. If you go physics, go experimental. You would definitely have to get a PhD, and even then, unless you publish 10+ groundbreaking papers during graduate schools, you are going to have a really hard time finding a postdoc position. And an even harder time finding a professorship. | ||
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Lurgee
Australia252 Posts
edit: Ref for salaries of academic postings - http://adm.monash.edu.au/enterprise-agreements/academic-professional-2009/s1-academic-salary-rates.html I've seen postdocs going at 65-75k around uni too. Having been a student for a few years, that sort of money sounds fantastic. Do you think your life would be better if you earned say, $200k p.a. rather than $50k? I don't feel that is the case for me. edit 2 in reply:I hear that a lot and from my (chemistry) perspective, it sounds like complete bullshit. Yeah you have to work hard in research, but noone publishes 10 groundbreaking papers during a PhD. Some of PhD students I know who have gone on to get nice postdocs in germany and the UK have 1-2 papers in journals that are fairly good in their field. Also, becoming a theoretical physics academic is very very different from starting a science degree. Looking so far ahead isn't really very useful given that you almost certainly don't know what to do yet in definite terms. I thought I wanted to be a biologist or a doctor, then a year into my degree switched my focus completely. | ||
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Kalingingsong
Canada633 Posts
Also, to pick a form of engineering, you should consider the locations of possible future jobs. Some types of engineering require you to go live in remote areas more than others. So maybe look on job-posting websites and see where the jobs are actually located. For example, in Canada, if you do engineering related to petrochemical you might end up having to go find a job near the oilsands, which pays well but is in the middle of nowhere. So that's something to consider. | ||
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NeuroticPsychosis
United States322 Posts
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Nemesis
Canada2568 Posts
Both are rather flexible degrees though as they teach you critical thinking, math and analysis. Even if you don't end up working in the field, you can easily learn other fields. Pure science is more for people with passion towards discovering/learning new things. Also, as mentioned already, if you want to actually work in your field, you need more than a bachelor's degree. Just something to consider. If you don't care about the money, then you can go either way depending on your interest. Pure science is more if you are just interested in the field, while engineering is if you like building stuff, making stuff work using your knowledge. Up to you wherever you want to go. | ||
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Cyx.
Canada806 Posts
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LaNague
Germany9118 Posts
Chemistry requires a doctors degree (PhD i believe in US etc) to get a job worthy of a university graduate. It is seriously basically mandatory to get it. If you dont, you might as well have stayed home the last 6 years. Physics in not as bad, but its still very science oriented. There arent many mid/small sized companies seeking a physics expert. So job opportunities are mostly big companies (but then they probably go for PhDs) and banks and other financial sector companies that use physics graduates for their ability to solve complex differential calculations. And of course the ones staying at a university and getting payed probably less than the guy that cuts my hair makes. engineering is needed by all kinds of companies and since it is more practical, a scientific career is not required. i personally studies physics, but afterwards now i will also complete a degree in computer science. I know of more that do this. programming is just required everywhere, job offers are basically thrown at you. certain fields of CS/programming have less than 1 jobless applicant per job offering on average in the whole country! having a physics degree is a nice bonus, though. I know a lot more than pure computer people. a scientific career is of course possible in all fields. But you have to have a very special interest in the field and it can get very unpleasent, its a very cutthroat enviroment. You will be ranked globally and people will judge heavily based on that ranking. People will try all sorts of things to get credit for work they dont deserve it for, to get those sweet citations that up their little ranking. Not all are like that, but ull have to deal with those people every day. For example my cousin was pursuing that path and was 3 weeks away from her PhD. Then someone in her university mailed the wife of the professor some hint as to what the professor was doing when working late. then the professor flips out and just straight up fires all the people that worked like 12 hours every day on their PhD thesis and were almost done. And then he uses his reputation to basically burn them, making them unhireable. My cousing got her degree wih a 1 year delay, she was very lucky to get it at all and it probably was only because she was well connected in a lot of universities allready. | ||
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419fish
United States35 Posts
The three main jobs you can get with the degree are drilling engineer, production engineer, or reservoir engineer. Drilling engineers do a lot of structural analysis and physics. Production engineers work with chemical properties and fluid flow simulations. Reservoir engineers make computer models of geology using statistics. If you have a visceral hatred of the oil industry it wouldn't be the best carrier choice but if not it's an interesting and well paying job | ||
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